The B.C. Civil Liberties Association is urging Parliamentarians
and the government too ignore,
if not condemn, the recommendation from Canada's Chief Electoral
Officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley
to give him the powers to hand over personal information to government
agencies if in his discretion
it is necessary for public safety, health or security. The recommendation
is part of a report from
Mr. Kingsley's office entitled Completing the Cycle of Electoral
Reforms which recommends
numerous changes to Canada's electoral framework.
BCCLA President
Jason Gratl responds: "This is a shocking recommendation. Canadians
provide
this personal information only because they wish to exercise their
democratic right to vote. In that
way, the Chief Electoral Officer should be demonstrating extraordinary
vigilance to protect the integrity
of personal information in this database much like the Revenue Canada
database. It should not be
subject to any access by another government agency or third party
without a court order. Otherwise,
Canadians may be disinclined to register and forego their vote.
Mr. Kinsley has not demonstrated any
case for the need for this reform."
Mr. Kinsgley
has been reported to be willing to hold open the door to his database
to Canada's national
spy agency the Canadian Security Intelligence Agency:
"Of
course I can understand why that may raise some alarms. But I also
understand that CSIS is a
legal entity in this country.
And if they're the ones asking me for something, and I find it reasonable,
I'll go along with it - if the
statute is changed.
Gratl: "We
well remember Mr. Kingsley's prosecution of Jonathan Oppenheim and
others for having
willfully destroyed their ballots as a sign of political protest.
Given that kind of action, we have absolutely
no faith in Mr. Kingsley's ability to exercise such discretion reasonably.
We suggest Mr. Kingsley have
a chat
with Jennifer Stoddart, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, to seek
some advice about
privacy protection.
